Tuscaloosa city attorney to retire at month's end

Saturday

Nov 30, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Tuscaloosa City Attorney Tim Nunnally did not hold his current title for very long.But the career municipal counselor said he tried to make every day count.Nunnally, 53, will retire on Nov. 30. It will mark 25 years since he first came to work in the city's legal department in 1988.

By Jason MortonStaff Writer | The Tuscaloosa News

Tuscaloosa City Attorney Tim Nunnally did not hold his current title for very long.But the career municipal counselor said he tried to make every day count.Nunnally, 53, will retire today. It will mark 25 years since he first came to work in the city's legal department in 1988.“The thing I will miss most — in addition to the people I work with — is the complex question that's coming next,” Nunnally said. “There always has been one and, in this office, they are always one phone call, email or policy decision away.”A Jasper native, Nunnally graduated from Walker County High School in 1978 before coming to the Capstone.In 1982, after earning a degree in psychology, Nunnally spent the next four years working toward his law degree from the University of Alabama School of Law.Two years later, he began his career with the city of Tuscaloosa as an assistant city attorney and, through the years, progressed to associate city attorney, a senior associate city attorney and acting city attorney, a role he filled multiple times for his predecessor and mentor, longtime City Attorney Bob Ennis.Nunnally began his permanent role as city attorney, although on an interim basis at first, immediately after Ennis' retirement on Dec. 31, 2010.At the time, Nunnally said Ennis' career was one to admire.“Bob has dedicated his entire professional life to one client, the city of Tuscaloosa,” Nunnally said during Ennis' retirement party in January 2011. “He grew to love his client and has developed apassion for advocating for his client that is unrivaled in any lawyer.”Now, the same can be said for Nunnally, who spent his entire career representing City Hall.And, in his opinion, this representation was a service to the people of Tuscaloosa.“Our clients are elected officials and employees in (city) departments,” Nunnally said. “We serve the public by serving employees and officials who provide direct service to the public.”This service drew the respect of Mayor Walt Maddox, who made Nunnally's appointment as city attorney official on March 22, 2011.“Tim has been a consummate professional who has given his heart to the city,” Maddox said. “Without a doubt, he has made our city better.”Nunnally's leadership in his new role was put to the test one month and five days later, when the April 27, 2011, tornado struck.But helping the city navigate a path to recover from the tornado is but one of several critical moments in Tuscaloosa's history of which Nunnally has been a part.His research led to a victorious fight to keep Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa in 2009.Nunnally spent hours poring over the state's legal history until he found wording in the Alabama Code that established the state's mental hospital in Tuscaloosa. To move it to another city — as then-Gov. Bob Riley wanted to do, taking its 675 local jobs along with it — would require an act of the Alabama Legislature.He won an $800,000 settlement on behalf of city tax-payers against an engineering firm, contractor and others who improperly installed a water main under the Paul W. Bryant Bridge over the Black Warrior River.Despite the contract being issued by the state of Alabama — meaning Tuscaloosa had little, if any, obvious legal say in the work — Nunnally's research led the at-fault parties to offer the settlement.But sometimes, the proper course of action meant City Hall had to lose so the residents could win.In 2009, the City Council agreed to pay Willie Bies Jr., the city's first black police officer, a lump sum payment of $61,799.95 in unpaid pension benefits.Bies was hired on Aug. 1, 1966, as a “special police officer,” a position that did not entitle him to certain benefits, such as the pension.The mayor praised Nunnally's ability to find a legal remedy that satisfied the Bies complaint.“As an attorney, with multiple court rulings on the city's side, Tim could have easily advised that it was not our responsibility,” Maddox said. “However, he used the law to right a wrong because he knew Tuscaloosa was better than this.”Much of Nunnally's legal success on behalf of the city is attributed to his acute attention to detail and willingness to take as long as it takes to research or explain the legal reasoning behind a decision.He said he's never fielded an unreasonable question from a council member or city employee because, to him, all legal questions — even if the answer is simple — are valid when someone is trying to do the right thing.And that, he said, was his goal for his entire career.“I hope that I'm remembered as a man of integrity who always sought to provide the highest level of legal services possible,” Nunnally said.